When Microsoft announced the release of the Surface Pro 3 tablet, a few tech insiders were upset that the announcement was seemingly cut short.

Where was the debut of the Surface "Small"? There were plenty of rumors suggesting that a smaller, more compact tablet would be released to compete with the iPad Mini. Instead, Microsoft went full throttle and released the much-larger Surface Pro 3, the tablet that can replace your laptop.

Turns out, the smaller Surface tablet was ready to go, but it was axed at the last minute by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Executive Vice President Stephen Elop.

From Bloomberg:

[They] decided that the product in development wasn’t different enough from rivals and probably wouldn’t be a hit, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans weren’t public. Engineers had been working on the device and had planned to unveil it as early as today at an event in New York, two of the people said.